$10K Drag Shootout 2: Revealing The Second Team And The Final Vote!

The Horsepower Wars $10K Drag Shootout 2 is taking shape, as the second team has been chosen and four others selected to enter a popular vote to decide the final squad to enter the four-team build-off!

Team Enemies Everywhere, hailing all the way from Queensland, Australia, has been selected by the Horsepower Wars staff as the second team to automatically be entered into the $10K Drag Shootout, where they will go head-to-head with reigning champion Team Bigun, the soon-to-be-revealed COMP Cams Dream Team, and the winner of the popular vote.

Enemies Everywhere, led by 35-year drag racing veteran Jamie Farmer, includes engine machinist Robbie Abbott, fabricator Steve Metcalf, mechanic Nathen Clark, electrician/engine builder Casey Leonard, and engine builder/mechanic Kevy Morton. This group is no stranger to fast cars of the street and strip varieties, nor to the United States, having been stateside preciously to compete in Drag Week. Their talents and camaraderie are sure to make them a threat when the $10,000 build-off commences.

The four teams who were selected to take part in the popular vote include:

(Ed Note: you will need to be logged into your Facebook account in order to vote in the poll. Mobile users may prefer to visit the Horsepower Wars Facebook page on their Facebook app for a link to the poll.)

Farmer’s team, who will undoubtedly earn the Long Distance Award for their lengthy trek from Australia to California for the build-off, are already drawing up plans for their build and measuring their challengers.

“We are waiting for the final rules on the twin turbo size and any restrictions around the nitrous power adders,” Farmer says. “We have it down to two baseline engines, being the turbo LS and BBC nitrous. LS being EFI and the BBC could be either carburetor or EFI. We even tossed up a Coyote combo but the core engine may be out of budget but we have developed a turbo kit on the Australian S550 Mustang and have made big power on small turbos and low boost so it’s not totally out of consideration.”

Team Enemies Everywhere

“I think the remaining teams are good and I have no concerns but I think team Hardway would struggle to make the power with the budget, especially with the cash money to get the engine, bellhousing, turbo, pump and injectors to make the power. Team Midwest Mayhem are capable of being competitive with the budget … they may have a chance but would be happy to go up against any of the teams. As we know it is going to take good skills to win this with budget given. But we can’t wait to go up against Lyle and his team. I have spoken to a few of the team members before, at PRI and Dragweek at their shop and are nice guys. Lyle talks a big game with drinking and racing and may come up short a be found wanting. He is a win at all cost person but we find a cracks and open it up that’s how us Aussie will deal with his personalities without him knowing. All in all my team and I are wanting to go up against last years winners.”

Midwest Mayhem, who have assembled a number of social media-starring vehicles, are confident they have what it takes to not only win the popular vote, but succeed in the $10K Drag Shootout.

“We have been strategically planning for this since applications first opened up. I don’t want to give away any of our secrets, but I will say our main focus is the budget. But it’s about organization and attention to the details for us,” Joe Hunt explains. “We may not be veteran radial racers, but we are very familiar with working on a low-scale budget. This will be a strong suit of ours as we have a very solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t, where we can skimp, and where we have to spend a little extra coin. That, combined with our organizational skills will be our biggest advantage. Now this is aside from the fact that everyone of these guys on Team Midwest Mayhem is highly skilled and experienced with race cars, both new school and old school. We’re not just coming for the experience, we’re coming to win.”

Team Midwest Mayhem

Team Busted Nuts is likewise making preparations should they earn their way in.

Our strategy is to work as a team; stuff will get done very efficiently when we’re all on the same page. Everyone will be focused on the task at hand and no one is stepping on each others feet,” says the team’s welder and fabrication specialist, Jack Dykeman. “I know we have no idea what car we will end up with but we have a plan that is subject to change. We’re hoping to end up with a Fox body that we can stuff a BBC on nitrous in. For us that would be our goal, but as we’ve seen on the show anything can happen so we have to stay opened minded about what our project will actually end up being. Regardless of what combination we end up with, we plan to make the fastest most reliable and safe car we can in the 10 days.

Team Busted Nuts

“What makes our team the better choice for the show is our experience. Our general experience in all areas makes us stand out a bit more and gives us the advantage. A fast car in the time period we have should be no problem for us. We have all worked with plenty of different car combinations so we have a variety of options that we can come up with that we know we can handle,” Dykeman adds.

“My team strategy is to use the biggest bottle of nitrous in this country and spray all of the bald eagles through some junkyard bullet and let my Afro flow in the wind doing it … there’s no strategy, we are just going to get that W,” comments Andrade. “The reason you guys should pick team Andrade racing is because we are down-home, garage -built, good old boys that build everything on our own and build junk to outrun the rich guys.”

Andrade Racing

The Canadian Chaos team has emphasized the tried-and-true formula of weight to horsepower in their strategizing.

“Our strategy is simple: keep it simple. We are going to keep our weight down and maximize horsepower. With some “secret” tips and tricks that my team has learned over the years, we will make sure the engine gives us what we need,” Mitton says. “Drag Racing has a simple formula: less weight plus more horsepower equals speed. We also know how to improvise … none of us have had large racing budgets so we think working with $10,000 will be a treat.”

Team Canadian Chaos

“We have everything to prove and nothing to lose,” Mitton adds. “Everyone on our team has the thought process “nothing ventured, nothing gained!” We want to literally cross North America to get to California. Three of us live in New Bruswick and the other two in Prince Edward Island Canada … that is further away than the state of Maine. That is a long way to go if we did not think we had what it takes.”

Be sure to cast your vote for your favorite team and help push them across the finish line!

About the author

Andrew Wolf

Andrew has been involved in motorsports from a very young age. Over the years, he has photographed several major auto racing events, sports, news journalism, portraiture, and everything in between. After working with the Power Automedia staff for some time on a freelance basis, Andrew joined the team in 2010.